


The Sound of Victory

by crassenoughtocare



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-27
Updated: 2012-03-27
Packaged: 2017-11-02 14:43:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/370143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crassenoughtocare/pseuds/crassenoughtocare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aradia is sent to deal with a volume problem. Bonding and music ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sound of Victory

It was day four, and things had finally reached a boiling point. 

"Okay. Someone has to end this shit now, while we can cling to the last tattered scraps of sanity." Karkat scanned the small group, analyzing possible outcomes as best he could. It was sort of a lottery, only instead of money, you won getting to go tell Eridan to turn his music down, and instead of being picked by random numbers, it was Karkat. So really, it wasn't a lottery. It was just Karkat. Terezi beckoned him close with a finger. He obeyed and let him whisper in his ear. 

"Uh-huh, yeah. The fuck? Really? Huh. Whatever. Aradia, you go." 

"What!? Why me?" She threw out her hands, pleading to a room full of people who were still in deep fascination with their shoes, nails and the ceiling, basically anything that avoided potential eye contact with Karkat, and now, Aradia.

"Because! Fuck, you won't kill him, he can't kill you, and he likes you." 

"Likes me." It seemed Karkat had sank to officially pulling things out of his ass. 

"Yeah, can't we all agree Eridan likes Aradia better than most of us?" The group suddenly found its life, nodding and agreeing completely for the first time in a long time, possibly forever. 

"This is stupid, and you're all stupid!" Still, Aradia was standing, glaring at everyone who solidly avoided her gaze. 

"Fine. I will go and get him to turn it down. But if he gets trigger happy and it counts as heroic, you all are in for one hell of a haunting!" Suddenly the idea of sending Aradia had its faults, but she was already fluttering out the door.

\------

Just down the hall, base was throbbing. The various states of Eridan's music fixation had been marked with various states of annoyance, and now rage bordering on group depression. Bon Iver had done wonders for Karkat's rage. Skrillex and Dead Maus were less calming. It had gone on for almost a week, endless base drops and cacophony had driving everyone but Eridan to the edge. She knocked forcefully, expecting to have to pound continuously, but he answered the first time she knocked. 

"Yeah?" He didn't seem pissed she had interrupted his... Whatever it was he was doing, he seemed just fine, perhaps even vaguely pleased someone had come to visit, even if it was to complain. 

"Hi Eridan." She gave him her most charming smile, bordering on flirtatious. "Um. Listen, we were wondering if maybe you could turn it down a bit?" He raised an eyebrow, leaning against the door frame. 

"And why should I do that?" Damnit, she knew that smirk. He wanted to make her work. 

"Because some of us are having a trouble sleeping. And have headaches. And are close to sheer insanity." He shrugged, examining his nails.

"Not my fuckin’ problem, I sleep just fine." Aradia sighed, stepping just a bit closer. 

"Please? Maybe headphones would work." 

"Fuck no, not the same." 

"Could you try it? Please? Or maybe switch it up a bit?" He scowled down at her,   
unamused. 

"Just because you can't appreciate my music, doesn't mean I gotta fuckin’ change it." 

"I know! It's fine! But that's why we would like it if you would turn it down." He stared at her, unmoving.

"Please?" Nothing. Oh damnit, fine. She put her hand on his arm, leaning in close."For me?" 

He narrowed his eyes, fins flattening against his face. Eridan pulled back, disappearing into his room. The volume decreased. Mentally, Aradia breathed a sigh of   
relief. He reappeared. 

"Happy now?" He scowled, sighing as if he had been asked to do some ridiculous feat. She smiled, nodding.

"Much better. Thank you."

\-----

The next morning, it was back. Karkat appeared at her door almost immediately. Aradia cut him off before he could start. 

"I can take care of it." He shut his mouth, brow furrowed at her. 

"Thanks."

\-----

This time, he seemed to know she was coming. He looked at her expectantly, almost smiling. 

"Eridan, seriously. Please." She took his scarf by the end, earning a sharp slap on the knuckles. He fixed his scarf, making invisible adjustments so it fell perfectly.

"Why?" 

"For the sanity of everyone on this rock! Please!" She was pleading now, gripping his   
arms like a vice. Still, he seemed unimpressed, and dubstep raged on behind him.

"Can I come in?" That did surprise him. He shifted out of her grip, nodding.   
The inside of his room was a mess, covered in clothes and weapons and a very large stereo system. Aradia went for it immediately, finding the volume and reducing, then removing the disk. He grabbed her wrist, his hand easily wrapping around he limb, damn highblood genes. 

"I'm giving you new music." 

"Oh. Uh, carry on.” He snorted, crossing his arms. “I'd like to see your idea of taste."   
She pulled out a disk, placing it in the tray and sliding it shut. This time, she grabbed his wrist, pulling him down on a pile of cushions that had replaced the wind pile as his sleeping nest. He tried to speak, but found himself silenced by a very determined hand. 

_So now I am older  
Than my mother and father  
When they had their daughter  
Now what does that say about me?_

He took her hand from his mouth, keeping it shut. 

_Oh man what I used to be  
Oh man, oh my, oh me._

They let the song play. She paused the album, turning to him. 

"Much better at half volume, isn't it?" Slowly, Eridan nodded. 

"That was... Pretty okay, I guess. Keep going." She smiled lightly, pressing play and joining him again. Somewhere around the halfway point he draped an arm around her shoulders. Though she glanced at him suspiciously, she let him draw her closer. Some time after her letting him get cozy and Aradia resting her head on his chest, the music faded, leaving rare, resonant silence. 

"Pretty good, right?" She nudged him, not a big move considering their closeness. 

"Yeah. Pretty good. Your taste isn't bad." And that was the biggest compliment he had ever given her. 

"Thank you. Neither is yours, aside from the dubstep." He snorted, nudging her back and rolling his eyes. 

"Since fuckin’ when are you into music?" 

"Since always. Music is sort of my thing. Music boxes, remember? Land of Quartz and Melody?" She rolled over, off of his chest and into the crook of his arm.

"Oh. Yeah. I just never took you for someone who listens to, y'know, cool shit." In truth, he had forgotten her planet and time devices. He had never paid much attention to her during the game. Why would he have? She was a lowblood and a robot, and he was far too busy fighting angels and trying to get Feferi back. When had that changed?

"I listen, I sing, I get new stuff off of the humans all the time. John has really good taste in music!" Aradia took his hand, examining his rings, pulling them off to try them on her too small fingers. He paused, turning to look at her. 

"You sing?" 

"Of course. It's nice, relaxing, helps me think when I'm working with time." Huh. He never thought of her, anyone really, as the singing type. They weren’t a very musically talented group. 

"Sing for me." She pressed her lips together, shaking her head. 

"Tomorrow."

\-----

This time he didn't draw her back with blasting speakers. She arrived on her own. Just outside the door, she could hear the sweet muffled voice of the human. Victory sounded like Fleet Foxes.

He called her in, not bothering to pause the music. 

"I got more last night." She handed him three more discs. Eridan looked like he might hug her. 

"And I'll sing, if you want." He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. 

"Whatever. Never had anyone sing for me before." Or at all, if it wasn't coming from a   
speaker. Trolls weren't big on music as a whole. It was old art, no one cared anymore.   
Silently, Aradia thanked John for teaching her piano, which had originally been nothing more than a way to pass the time. It was nice, though, taking her favorite songs and being able to create them herself with more than a voice.

She drug him down the hallway, to where they kept the human kid's instruments. He sat on the bench next to her, perched on the edge so as not to interfere.   
He didn't know the song, but she seemed to, very well. It sounded like her, or at least some part of her. Melancholy, like she used to be. 

_”I must go on standing,  
you can't break that which isn't yours.   
I must go on standing, Im not my own, it's not my choice...”_

When she was done, he wasn't sure what he should do. Her voice was lovely, not big, but full of emotion, never faltering or unsure, slightly smoky around the edges. She turned towards him, corners of her mouth turned up just barely. He resisted the urge to kiss that mouth. If she hadn't turned back to the piano, he might have. 

_”Come and open up your folding chair, next to me...”_ It was happier, this one. He didn't know if he liked it better, but it talked about the sea, which he couldn't help but like. She seemed to forget he was there, continuing almost immediately into another. 

She stopped, smiling, seemingly delighted with herself and his reaction.  
"Enough for today?" He grinned stupidly, wanting to say 'fuck no please keep going', but she was already standing, giving him no choice but to follow and accept the ending. 

"Ara, you gotta teach me." She shook her head, taking his hand in hers. 

"I can't teach you. John can, but I mostly just picked it up by ear. It's easy once you get into it." Somehow he sincerely doubted that.

\-----

Turns out the damned girl could play guitar too. 'Music is sort of my thing', yeah right.

She had done guitar for sweeps, since before she died, so he didn't feel quite as incompetent. Not that he ever felt incompetent. Especially compared to lowblood fairy girls. Still. It really wasn't fair, her having all this skill, while he had never even picked up a guitar. She offered to teach him, and after some deliberation, he agreed. 

Aradia was a patient teacher, laying things out a simply as possible, correcting him when needed, quelling his almost constant frustration. Basics first, which were boring and not what he wanted to learn, but she made him, drilled it all into him, promising something bigger.

Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity, he got it. One song, at least. And she made him sing. He was pretty sure he sucked. But she claimed he had a nice voice, and he guessed that she would know. He sang for her, watching the guitar the whole time, even though with her pushing him and him practicing constantly, his fingers simply knew where to go. It was easier than looking at her, though. 

_”Donna, bella donna are you listening, and were you ever really listening, like I want for you to listen now?”_ He finished, slow to look up at her. She was smiling, reaching out to take his hand. 

"Perfect." It hadn't been, not really, but he accepted her praise, and her kiss. The guitar was quickly forgotten, replaced by her in his lap.

\-----

When Karkat had said 'end this', he probably hadn't meant get Eridan into something else and make out with him on a regular business. But Aradia had gotten him to keep the volume on his music down, so mission accomplished. However, if someone didn't stop playing that fucking guitar all over the damn meteor, Karkat was fully prepared to break the instrument over his head. That was the last time he would send Aradia to do a simple job, but hey, at least she wasn't haunting them. 

Victory, apparently, sounded like a hipster douche with a guitar.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is pretty rough-draft-ish. I admit to writing it in about an hour, but I had to get back into writing after a large inspiration slump. Perhaps, someday, I'll come back and make it less rough, but until then, it is what it is! 
> 
> Music Referenced:  
> Fleet Foxes- Montezuma: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdN2bfov9JQ  
> Regina Spektor- Apres Moi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUqIjleDSj4&feature=related  
> Regina Spektor- Folding Chair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCvgXmg0m1g  
> Avett Brothers- Bella Donna: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XybDZ9I9k4k


End file.
